News

March 1, 2012

Ashburton Primary School

Some of The Helen Foundation Trustees were given a very warm welcome recently by Headteacher Rachel Shaw to Ashburton Primary School to speak to a full school assembly on the charity’s outreach and to give a slide presentation. And what a wonderfully attentive audience the 200 children were to their visitors! Thank you for a great visit! Ashburton will be using subsidies from the Foundation to provide Arts-based workshops later in the year and to present The Helen Foundation Award for Best Endeavours in the Arts as they do each summer.

76 Trombones, OR is it 1,760?

76 trombones and at least 76 hugs to the Newton Abbot Town Band! This band sadly had to decide recently to close and they made a decision to donate almost £1,760 from final funds to The Helen Foundation, specifically to enable talented youngsters needing bursary funding to continue with higher level music studies, in the face of family monetary problems.

Thank you everyone for this gift that the charity will use as requested and continue to support young people to make music.

Widecombe School

The Foundation benefited from brilliant fund-raising by this splendid school, one of the smallest in Teignbridge. They raised £200 through selling refreshments at Christmas shows and adding in the photo sales. Thank you! We look forward to working again with Widecombe this year.

In addition, Widecombe School has come up with a novel way of raising money for its own Arts projects and for two charities, The Helen Foundation and Magic Carpet. Artists are invited to submit work for an exhibition to be held at the Ilsington Country House Hotel on 18 April 2012 from 10am to 4pm, and on the 19 April 2012 from 10am to 7pm. Prior to the auction a flier and brochure will be available on request. All works will have a fixed price on them, any discount to a prospective buyer to be individually agreed. There will also be an Art Shop at the exhibition which will sell a wide variety of smaller items to which artists might also like to contribute, for example: postcards of work, small ceramic pieces, etc.

The Auction – the remaining works will be auctioned on 19 April 2012 from 7pm to 9pm. The school intends to sell each piece to the highest bidder, but a reserve price could be agreed if specifically requested. Any artists out there willing to give this a go? Please contact us at contact@thehelenfoundation for further details.

Oh Yes They Did!

Shaldon Theatre Company’s (STC) splendid pantomime Aladdin raised the roof in Teignmouth recently and contributed a wonderful £336 for the charity through their Friday performance with its annual benefit evening for The Helen Foundation. Thank you to the Committee, the entire talented Company and to all those involved with this excellent production including the generous sponsors of the raffle prizes.

Helen gained her first theatrical experience with STC, sparking her life-long passion for drama and she would be so proud and thrilled at the loyalty and friendship of the Company, many of whom worked with her in productions. STC is held in great affection in the local community and provides brilliant opportunities for young people to experience life on the stage. Thank you everyone!

James Peat

James Peat may be young but he has a generous heart. Knowing about the work of the charity, he recently donated £17.25 from his charity box to support THF. Thank you so much James!

Teignmouth Golf Club

Glyn Kneebone, currently the Captain of Teignmouth Golf Club, has selected The Helen Foundation and Rowcroft Hospice as his two charities of choice for his year in office. A number of fund-raising events will be held to support the two charities and we are very grateful to Glyn and the members of the golf club for their much valued support.

Dartmoor Vale Rotary Club

Remember the sponsored run last autumn in Devon – the Dartmoor Vale Marathon that also included a half-marathon and 10k run brilliantly supported by Foundation runners and their sponsors? This raised over £6,000 for the charity and the Dartmoor Vale Rotary Club planned to increase that amount by sharing out their corporate sponsorship funds among the many benefiting charities.

Annie and Roger Kirk recently gave a presentation about the Foundation to the club and were delighted to receive a further donation of £1,150. Thank you so much Dartmoor Vale Rotary Club and all your sponsors including especially Sibelco, who hosted the event at their Newton Abbot works.

Dawlish Community College

We thank the students at Dawlish Community College very much for choosing The Helen Foundation as one of three charities to benefit from the collection at their non-uniform day just before Christmas. They raised over £170!

Friends of The Helen Foundation

As the work of the Foundation continues to grow, seven lovely people – all locally based – have agreed to be available to help out on a regular basis with charity events such as visiting workshops, fund-raising and just as important, helping Trustees with their planning for the future. Here we are some of us raising a glass together recently to toast the future of The Helen Foundation…